Time magazine named Pope Francis its person of the year on Wednesday, hailing the head of the Catholic Church as a new voice of global conscience since taking office in March.
Six days before his 76th birthday the ‘dynamic’ man got this acclamation.
He has taken on leadership of a 1.2-bn-strong Church beset by scandal and signs of deep internal dysfunction. At his tenure things are improving drastically largely grace to his charisma and dynamic acts.
"For pulling the papacy out of the palace and into the streets, for committing the world's largest church to confronting its deepest needs and for balancing judgment with mercy, Pope Francis is TIME's 2013 Person of the Year," said managing editor Nancy Gibbs.
She said it was rare for a new figure on the world stage to capture so much attention so quickly. "He has placed himself at the very centre of the central conversations of our time: about wealth and poverty, fairness and justice, transparency, modernity, globalisation, the role of women, the nature of marriage, the temptations of power," she added.
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi welcomed the accolade, not because the pope sought fame but because it would give people hope.
"It is a positive sign that one of the most prestigious acknowledgements in international media should be given to someone who preaches spiritual, religious and moral values in the world and speaks effectively in favour of peace and more justice," he said.
"If this draws women and men and gives them hope, the pope is happy." He expressed.
NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden got second position, he is currently been asylum in Russia. He had been at the centre of the discussion throughout the media over the last year. In third place was US gay rights activist Edith Windsor, who is famous for her case against US government, whereby she won the equal right and federal benefits for the same sex married couples as heterosexual couples. In fourth place was Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for managing not only to survive but turn the tide of the civil war his way Fifth place was awarded to Senator Ted cruz, 42-year old republican senator had significant role over the President Obama’s medical care bill.
